Table grape innovator Corrin dies at 80

(May 15) Funeral services are scheduled for May 19 at Reedley College for long-time San Joaquin Valley grower-shipper-marketer Allan Corrin, owner of Corrin Farming, Reedley, Calif. He died May 8 at the age of 80 due to complications from a stroke he suffered in late 2005.

Corrin was known for a number of produce marketing achievements, including popularizing ruby seedless table grapes.

“Allan single-handedly convinced retailers to buy the rubys,” said Wayne Brandt, long time friend of Corrin and owner of Brandt Farms Inc., Reedley. “And he was the guy who took table grapes into foodservice.”

Brandt said Corrin was consumer driven.

Corrin served on the California Grape and Tree Fruit League’s board of directors for more than 20 years. He was a past chairman of the board, said Barry Bedwell, president of the league.

“He was always an innovator whether it was table grapes, tree fruit or good public policy,” Bedwell said.

Mark Givens, director of marketing for H-M-C Group Marketing Inc., Kingsburg, Calif., worked for Corrin in 1979 when Corrin launched the Lunch Bunch line.

“He was a marketer in the purest sense of the word,” Givens said.

The Corrin family has requested donations be sent to the Reedley College-Corrin Family Scholarship Fund, Reedley, or the Ag One Foundation at California State University-Fresno.